Limiting exposure is a means of ensuring for every individual, on the one hand, that deterministic effects will never appear and, on the other, that the residual risk associated with the exposure received is tolerable, bearing in mind the risk assumptions made.

Exceeding these limits means that the estimated risk increases but will not necessarily cause effects to appear.

The limits for deterministic effects are as follows:

	150 mSv/year for the lens of the eye,
	500 mSv/year for the skin, the hands and feet.

Since 1996 in both Euratom Directive and International BSS, the limits for stochastic effects are as follows: 100 mSv per five consecutive years for workers, subject to a maximum 50 mSv in a single year, and 1 mSv a year for the public.

The limitation principle is not applied in the case of natural or medical exposures.